Stepping into adulthood during the pandemic: my story.
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It feels so unnatural to say I have had almost no contact with the outside world now for officially one year and six months. It’s not only me but I am sure various people would say the same. It’s all because, the pandemic, COVID-19, came as a drastic surprise in the lives of every human being and made the world lock themselves inside their homes for almost an entire year and to date, it has forced various sections to remain partially closed. This pandemic sure came as a surprise for the entire human population and brought with it varied changes and challenges that ordained various sectors like educational institutions, offices, and many businesses to shift online. Like every official sector, every human being too had to face challenges at the individual level. For me, that challenge came in the form of home isolation.
I won’t ever say I was a social butterfly but I for sure liked going out but this pandemic since March 2020 orated me like many others to stay home. Initially, I felt excited as one of the childhood dreams of almost every student came true, I did not have to go to college anymore and suddenly I had so much free time that I thought of learning various new things. But, this excitement lasted for only some time and soon staying home the entire day became an overbearing thing. No longer was I excited about anything and I started becoming lazy, hardly left the bed, spent the entire day on mobile, had numerous fights with my family members and above all I started feeling gloomy. This continued for several months and then around late November last year, I just could take it anymore, I went online and looked up various articles suggesting various tips for coming out of this zone. Surely there were numerous tips that I came across but not all worked for me. After trying out several tips and tricks I finally settled with five habits, these without asking me to go overboard meets my demand helps me stay calm, motivated and active. Those five simple and easy to adapt tips are-
• Set Boundaries
Setting boundaries are always not easy, in fact, I am still working on establishing my boundaries. But, I for sure have learned, setting boundaries is a healthy habit. Boundaries are something that people are reluctant to work on, I too used to be like that. But since I have learnt that boundaries help a person to know even more about themselves, I am trying to work on my boundaries. Also, while working on boundary setting one has to keep in mind every person has their own priority, hence, they will not have the same boundaries. The boundaries that I am working on are, how I spend my time, what people I engage with, learning to establish a healthy work and personal life balance, and what are the things that I want to prioritize.
• It’s OK to take a break
This pandemic had surely added to our problems and has put us under major stress. During such times deviating from one’s goals is perfectly normal and therefore it is also normal to take a break and evaluate the things we are doing or plan to do in future. Even if not for evaluating, taking a break is absolutely necessary you can simply take some time out treat yourself to a fulfilling yummy meal, buy some flowers, take a warm bath, etc. Doing so allows us to return to our work with a fresh mindset and with more focus, and energy.
• Celebrate Little Things
I also learnt that celebrating small achievements is equally important. In fact, it’s more important especially during the pandemic. Because every day seemed the same and celebrating small achievements makes you recognize your efforts and saves you from feeling stagnant. These small achievements can be anything like sending mail, cleaning your room, decluttering your workspace, and many more.
• Exercise & Meditate
This topic might seem mundane but it’s one of the tips that’s very important. During this pandemic, we all agree on the fact that we moved much less than we used to do on a regular basis. That’s why it’s very important to take some time and move our body for at least 30 minutes a day. This allows us to feel fresh, active, positive, and stay healthy and in a good shape.
• Keep learning new skills
We all must have realized that in today’s world education is not the only important thing, learning new skills is always beneficial. And this pandemic gave me the chance to not only arm myself by learning new skills but also focus on and develop some basic skills like adaptability, time management, coping strategies and many more.
All these things during this hard time of pandemic allowed me to stay positive, grow and helped me know myself a bit more.